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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28442706">Locker Bruises</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/space_buns_arsinoe/pseuds/space_buns_arsinoe'>space_buns_arsinoe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Another World ~ Holiday Special 2020 [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Three Dark Crowns Series - Kendare Blake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - High School, F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:28:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,272</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28442706</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/space_buns_arsinoe/pseuds/space_buns_arsinoe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Katharine but make her the awkward lesbian teenage girl she was meant to be.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katharine/Bree Westwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Another World ~ Holiday Special 2020 [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040922</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Locker Bruises</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Day Five of my Holiday Special (2020) - Another World</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1"><em>I need a car</em> was the conclusion Katharine came to when she nearly hurled in the school parking lot after stumbling off her sister’s motorcycle. Arsinoe chuckled as she rubbed her back. Arsinoe gently tugged the helmet off her head and let the fresh air in and Kat breathed, slowly standing up and glaring at the dangerous monstrosity her sister called “her baby.” Usually, she would ride in Mirabella’s car but their older sister was sick at home.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Never doing that again,” Kat said as Arsinoe pulled their backpacks from the seat compartment and put Kat’s helmet in there, her own still perched under her arm. She locked the bike and cast Kat a look.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“It’s not even that bad, I don’t get what you and Mira don’t like about it,” Arsinoe says, handing her her pack. Kat growls, takes it and turns towards the front steps of their school. Arsinoe calls out to where Jules stands at the base of the steps before kissing Kat’s forehead. “I’ll meet you here after school, yeah?” Kat nods and Arsinoe jogs across the road to join her friends. Kat crosses after, not looking over at her sister. She knew Arsinoe would invite her over if she asked, but Jules, Joseph, Billy and Emilia were Arsinoe’s friends, not hers. She didn’t belong there.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She quickly darted up the stairs into their school, passing through the halls like a ghost to get to her locker. She unlocked it and tugged at it with all the force she could muster, growling at the jammed door.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Kat didn’t even notice the person coming up beside her until her locker swung open and hit something that went “umph.” Kat frowned and half closed her locker again to see a girl rubbing her nose. Kat winces and steps towards the girl, feeling awkward and guilty.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I am so sorry, are you okay?” The girl nodded and Kat gently took her wrists so that she could check the girls face. She nearly swore.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">She had just hit Bree Westwood, also known as the head cheerleader and second most popular girl in school, in the face with her locker. Shit. This was it, this was the end, the moment where no one would ever interact with her again. They watch each other for too long and Kat ignores the way her heart races under the scrutiny of this tall and pretty girl.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I’m okay. Are you?” Bree says and Kat frowns in confusion, “no one opens a locker that aggressively if they’re perfectly fine,” she clarifies and Kat nods in understanding.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I’m fine, the door just got stuck so… yeah,” she says rubbing her arm nervously. “Sorry about hitting you in the face,” Bree laughed and Kat rubbed the back of her neck nervously.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“It’s fine, locker grate bruises are all the rage these days,” Bree affirms, her voice warm. The bell goes off behind them and Kat jumps slightly. “I’ll see you around Kat Queen,” she winks and then is gone.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p3">~</p><p class="p4"> </p><p class="p1">“I’m just saying that the greatest bop of all time is Shania Twain’s ‘Man! I feel like a Women’ followed by Nelly Furtado’s ‘Promiscuous’ and then the entire Queen discography,” Arsinoe rants as Kat sits beside her, gesticulating like she’s a professor on the subject. Her table laughs and Kat questions her sister’s sanity.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I think you’re too deep in nostalgia. Modern rappers have changed the landscape of what consists of a bop,” Billy contests, waving to Kat. Arsinoe turns to her boyfriend, pointing a fork in his face.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Is this your way of saying you think ‘WAP’ should be at the top of this list? Oh and Kitty, Bree Westwood is staring at you,” Arsinoe says the first part with incredulity and the second so fast Kat almost doesn’t catch it. Kat snorts before her brain registers all of the information. She looks over to the “popular table” and catches Bree Westwood indeed staring right at her, warm honey eyes curious and smiling. Kat smiles back with a small wave, hoping that the bright fluorescents of the cafeteria washed away the blush striped across her cheeks. Bree winked at her and the blush got worse.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Arsinoe, what’s she like?” Kat leans over and asks into her sister’s ear. Arsinoe turns and considers the question.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Mira says she’s nicer than you might think. If you want to talk to her you should. Get out there again, y’know?” Arsinoe assured her gently. Kat nodded and stood from the table.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I’m gonna go practice my piano,” Arsinoe nods and squeezes Kat’s arm lovingly.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p3">~</p><p class="p4"> </p><p class="p1">Arsinoe is unsuccessfully trying to coax Kat back onto her motorbike when someone behind her calls her name.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Grateful for the opportunity to stall, Kat turns, only to begin to wonder whether the motorbike would have been a better option. Bree Westwood approaches her and Kat tries not to be distracted by the fact that she’s in her cheerleading uniform because that amount of leg and what it does to Kat’s heart should be considered criminal.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Hi Bree,” Kat says awkwardly, “What’s up?”</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Hey Kat,” Bree says happily. “I was wondering if you might like to get dinner with me on Friday night? Like, a date?” Kat doesn’t speak, her brows furrowing in confusion. She thanks everything that that is the moment Arsinoe nudges her in the shoulder blade.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Uh, I- yeah, that sounds good,” Kat stammers and Bree smiles so wide Kat assumes it hurts her and then skips off.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Get it Kitty,” Arsinoe says as she pushes a cycle helmet into Kat’s arms.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p3">~</p><p class="p4"> </p><p class="p1">“I can’t believe you’re going on a date with my best friend,” Mirabella murmurs as she helps Kat get ready for her date. Kat hasn’t been able to stop blushing. “It’s so exciting,” she continues as she puts a light layer of makeup on Kat.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“Yeah, nicely done Kitty,” Arsinoe affirms from her perch leaning against the bathroom doorframe. “But text me if it starts going badly, I’ll make up some emergency,” Kat snorts gently.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“With you, it’s not often that you have to <em>make up </em>an emergency,” she teases and Mirabella puts down the mascara wand, giggling.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I am a completely responsible young adult who never gets herself involved in emergencies,” Arsinoe says, sticking her nose in the air snottily. Mirabella seems to not be able to handle it, wheezing heavily as she laughed, curling over, coughing the dryness from her cold-impacted throat. It’s impossible that Kat and Arsinoe won’t also catch a cold next week and the week after that respectively, but for now, they giggle closer to each other.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">Finally, finally, they manage to sit up and Mirabella finishes Kat’s makeup. The doorbell rings and before Kat can stop her, Arsinoe is out of the bathroom and undoubtedly sliding down the stair banister even though Mirabella asks her to walk down the stairs every day. Mira helps her to her feet on the low silver heels she wears.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“You’ll be fine, Bree is super nice,” she says, before letting Kat go in front of her down the stairs.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“… and have her home by 11, which is a really chill curfew, so don’t break it,” Kat hears as she comes to stand next to Arsinoe’s shoulder, finally seeing Bree, looking like something out of her dreams with a sky blue dress that reveals miles of leg and makes her eyes pop.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“11, got it. Hi Kat, you ready?” Bree says with a smile of a thousand suns. Kat took a breath.</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">“I’m ready,” she takes Bree’s hand and lets her lead Kat to her car.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Come listen to me scream into the void on my tumblr: @space-buns-arsinoe</p></blockquote></div></div>
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